Got 2nd at SCG Syracuse Legacy. 107 players I believe. 7 rounds swiss, cut to top 8. My goal was to top 8 this time, the closest at a SCG event for me was 13th at Detroit last year.
4 Dark Confidant
4 Deathrite Shaman
3 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Shriekmaw
1 Hero of Bladehold
3 Thoughtseize
1 Cabal Therapy
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Hymn to Tourach
3 Liliana of the Veil
2 Vindicate
1 Council's Judgment
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Batterskull
3 Lingering Souls
2 Chrome Mox
4 Scrubland
1 Bayou
3 Swamp
1 Plains
1 Karakas
4 Wasteland
4 Marsh Flats
2 Polluted Delta
1 Verdant Catacombs
SIDEBOARD: 2 Engineered Explosives, 1 Thalia, 1 Gaddock Teeg, 1 Containment Priest, 1 Phyrexian Revoker, 1 Pithing Needle, 1 Enlightened Tutor, 1 Leyline of the Void, 1 Relic of Progenitus, 1 Surgical Extraction, 1 Toxic Deluge, 1 Zealous Persecution, 1 Disfigure, 1 Circle of Protection: Red.
Round 1. Douglas Wilson. Punishing Jund. Win 2-1
Game 1. I kept a meh hand that had Deathrite and Bob and one removal spell (Lilly). He's on the play and discards away Lilly. He plays his bob....and then Punishing Fire combo. I see Goyf and Library. GG. I was at 20 life and him at 10 but he had soooooo much going on there's no chance for me to claw back into the game.
Game 2. I open with Leyline of the Void. LOL, mise. He has Punishing Fire but I don't care now that it's a more expensive shock.
Game 3. I have Relic in my opener and land an early Mystic for Batterskull. He's a bit mana light and I make it worse by Wasting some lands.
Round 2. Timur. Blue/white. Mystic, jace. etc. Win 2-1.
Game 1. He has Batterskull, I don't. I think he has a Jace out too.
Don't remember much from Game 2 or 3 except....My Gaddock Teeg is in play game 2 but he sides out his forces and Jaces so Teeg actually hurts me more as I have an Explosives in hand.
Also I kill him with Hero of Bladehold in game 3.
Round 3. Josh. Sneak Show. Win 2-0.
Game 1. He's on the play. Island pass. I have 2 thoughtseize, Chrome mox, Dark Confidant, land, Karakas, and Liliana in hand. I top deck a Deathrite. I thoughtseize and see. 2 lands including at least one sol land, Emrakul, Griselbrand, Show and Tell and a Sneak Attack. I take the Show and tell with 1 Thoughtseize and the Sneak attack with the other (mox imprinting Deathrite). I was very tempted to leave him with Show and tell and Emrakul....but he could topdeck Griselbrand and he can't possibly cast Show and tell in to Emrakul.....I figure He would know that I have some sort of answer for the Spaghetti monster. He topdecks a few ponders but doesn't do much as I start casting Bob and Liliana to close out the game. LOL, i also draw Shriekmaw soon after for added insurance. He's able to cast Sneak Attack but no open Red mana....I Vindicate it on my turn.
Game 2. I mull to 6 with Bob, Revoker, Mox, thoughtseize and 2 lands (Unfortunately none of them were Karakas, can't lucksack all the time). He opens with Leyline of Sanctity and Ponders I think. I imprint Thoughtseize on Mox and cast Bob on my turn 1. Resolves. He ponders and shuffles again. I start wasting lands and casting 2 mana dudes like Mystic and Revoker naming Sneak Attack. 2 mana dudes and Batterskull get there. For some strange reason he doesn't side in Pyroclasm against me. I found that odd.
Round 4. Adam Quinlan. Death and Taxes. Win 2-0.
Funny thing. I played against him in the Legacy Challenge the day before. I was playing MUD....and got wrecked.
Game 1. I'm on the play. Fetch, swamp...Deathrite. I laugh. The gig is up....I'm not MUD. I land Bob and Mystic for Skull early. He floods a fair bit but has Thalia and Mom out. He has a Vial at 3 and a Karakas too, 1 card in hand. So I swing, he block bounces Thalia. I cast Therapy on him naming Thalia....the other card in hand is another Thalia. I did have a plow in hand, which I'm assuming he thought I would have in hand since Mom was active and Bob was around for 3 draw steps. So I eventually get a Lingering Souls, equip one to skull.
Game 2. He has mom turn 1. Me turn 1 Shaman. He casts a Jitte turn 2. I cast Lilian turn 2. Bye Mom. He then casts Brimaz tapping out which is great since one of those lands is Karakas. On my turn I then Shriekmaw his Brimaz, which got a few laughs and a Bob. I don't activate Liliana for a few turns since I'm worried about Liege. Turns out, I check his decklist as he made 9th....no Liege. I then get a Jitte online and Bob and Jitte and Liliana are too much.
Round 5. Ronald Mackenzie. Miracles. Lost 1-2
Game 1. He's very mana light, I think I vindicated a land to add to those problems. I have I liliana, 2 Souls and a Sword of Fire and Ice.
Game 2. I knock him down to 13 but he entreats for 3 Angels and has a Clique out.
Game 3. Turning Point. I have active Liliana. He has 3 lands out, 2 cards in hand and a top. I cast Pithing Needle. Resolves. Top is still in play. I tank for a bit as usually players draw with top. But he doesn't. I think about naming Jace, the Mind Sculptor but don't. On his turn...Jace. I think I goofed. I'm eternally worried about top/counterbalance lock. In addition Top obviously gives him better card selection than me.....Entreat the Angels etc. However, I shouldn't be as worried about Counterbalance lock at that time. IMO, active Liliana is a big threat that Counterbalance obviously can't stop. and as long as Lilly is around...I can eventually separate his lands and Counterbalance and Top....dealing with Counterbalance. However, an active Jace trumps Liliana, especially on an empty board, which it was.
Nice guy. He's part of a group of Ottawa people that came over to play. Which includes Ted McCluskie, who beat me in round 14 of GP Washington on his way to top 8 there.
Round 6. James. Black/Green Removal? lol. Won 2-0.
Game 1. So his deck is black green with Top. Tons of discard and tons of removal. Like tons of removal. More than me. Innocent Blood, Pernicious Deed, Maelstrom Pulse, Damnation, Liliana. Lingering Souls is the MVP here. I cast one half of Lingering Souls and beatdown. He casts Deed. I swing again, he pops deed. I flashback Souls, for some reason he didn't know that or remember it.
Game 2. He plays Urborg and Sensei's Diving Top. I waste his land. He plays another Urborg and looks at top 3. I waste again. I keep him down to 2 lands, I think I may have Vindicated a land as well. I beatdown with Souls again I think. He shows me his hand after.....lots of 3's.
So he tells me a couple of earlier Delver opponents just scooped because of the amount of removal. lol. I can appreciate someone who plays that amount of removal. So he plays Karn Liberated and Grave Titan. Can't remember what else he told me. Glad he didn't land Titan game 1 as he did have the mana to cast him.
Round 7. ID Draw.
I make top 8. 6th seed. We split. I know there are at least 2 Miracle opponents and Shardless Bug (Ted) so I don't like my chances so I'm happy for the split. $425 each. If we don't split and I lose in top 8 it's only $200.
Round 8. Jacob Shannon. Burn. 2-0.
Game 1. He has turn 1 Goblin Guide and doesn't flip a land for a while. Fortunately, I have 2 Deathrites and 2 Mystics which eat his removal. I'm able to get a Jitte online and equip to a Lingering Soul. It also helps he is stuck on 1 mountain, which I promptly Stone Rain.
Game 2. Early Grim Lavamancer and Goblin Guide. I Shriekmaw the Goblin Guide. Again, I'm able to have Mystic, 2 Souls and Jitte. He still has Lavamancer but not enough food in yard and stuck on 2 lands for a while....which LOL I make the situation worse for him as I Vindicate a land again, leaving him on 1 land. I was as low as 1 life. He shows me a price which I felt he should cast anyway....would have dealt only 2 damage as I have 2 wastelands out but better than nothing, I'm at low life, and more food for Lavamancer is good.
Round 9. Jason Smith. Grixis Pyromancer. Win 2-1.
Game 1. So it a deck with Snapcaster, Strix, Dack Fayden, Dig through Time, Thought Scour, Cabal Therapy. I land an early Liliana and wreck his hand. He has a Tasigur in hand but doesn't cast it for a long time because of Liliana. Liliana has as many as 11 counters on her...so I ultimate separating 2 Undergrounds in 1 pile, 2 Volcanics and a fetch in the other. He chooses to keep the 2 undergrounds. Take that Sundering Titan. lol. Can't remember what actually killed him.
Game 2. Dack Fayden steals Batterskull with a Strix out. I vindicate the Strix and swing The Germ into Dack Fayden killing him. But he casts a Snapcaster and beats me with it equipped to Skull. Boo urns. He also Digs Through Time numerous times.
Game 3. I don't remember him doing much....and Then Hero of Bladehold lands. Jason and the Judge both laugh when they see that. She swings with 2 dudes, he bolts a soldier so he goes from 19 to 14. I then cast Lingering Souls. He plays nothing and then I swing again and cast Zealous Persecution. Seems like super overkill (lol I didn't bother doing that math until after) but 3 soldiers, 2 souls and a Hero is only 13 damage normally. Zealous gets me that extra point of damage and then some.
Round 10. David Melendez. Jeskai Stoneblade. Lost 0-2.
I put him on Miracles. Not quite. It has Terminus and Top but no Counterbalance or Entreat. I knock him down to 5 life in game 1 but I can't compete with the amount of removal, in particular Terminus. Game 2 he has Jace out gg.
He was very amused I tried to hardcast Shriekmaw to kill Snapcaster Mage. He forced it. I showed him Hero of Bladehold after as well.
Very happy with finishing 2nd. Sideboard was alright. Saw the Leyline when I really needed it versus Punishing Jund. I had Circle of Protection: Red vs. Burn but I never saw it. I usually see my one ofs but not in this case....and when I do see COP:red against Burn I'm usually winning. Sideboard does look like a pile but a lot of the cards do similar things. Eg. creature kill...Engineered Explosives, Toxic Deluge, Zealous Persecution and Disfigure. Needle and Revoker are very similar. Graveyard hate is Leyline, Relic and Surgical.
Thanks, Einherjer. I read your posts on Miracles. LOL, not to play it but how to beat it. Still an uphill battle for Deadguy to beat Miracles for me.
Notes:
-Surprised Starcity actually called my Deck by the proper name. Dead Guy Ale. Especially seeing Jeskai Stoneblade or Sultai Delver on there.
-Hero of Bladehold kill count. 2. The one woman army only showed up twice but she closed out the game both times.
-I'm still going to run COP:RED as I barely beat burn without it. I haven't been able to test much against burn since the switch to COP:Red.
-switched from 2 Revokers to a split of 1 needle and 1 Revoker. Now that I've done that, I see both more now then when it was Just 2 Revokers. lol.
-Leyline of the Void showed up when I needed it against Punishing Jund. I didn't see it vs Grixis Pyromancer, which would have been nice but still got there.
-Choke is an interesting thought. Actually never casted it before.
-Vindicate was great. Stone Rain quite a few times. Maybe I should make it 3 Vindicates again. It's quite fun reducing your opponent to zero permanents in play.
Dying, hahaOriginally Posted by Wilkin
You didn't see a single Delver of Secrets all day, interesting.
Nice report, and great result. Congrats.
Very nice report. It was fun playing against your deck. This is Dave Melendez, hope to face you again some day :) later....
P.s. still "not looking back" to our top 8 group decision XD woot!
Thanks Dave. Lol, yep judging from your comments I really know that it is you. I still don't regret the split at all.
Oh and a further note, the finals was the 8th seed (dave) vs me the 6th seed.
Sweet report. Sad I couldn't join you guys, but, new job.
Grats on your finish! Did you all indulge in Dino BBQ?
♀
Dino BBQ? No, went to Ruby Tuesday on Saturday. I went a little crazy on the all you can eat salad bar.
Saturday was boring for me. There weren't many vendors there but I did trade for a German FBB Bayou. Played the Legacy Challenge with MUD. 1-3.
2nd place is great! Although I was hoping you would avenge me after I lost to David in the top 8 :). Hope to see you at a tournament soon, I had a lot of fun in our match.
PS - Still think you were right to name top with needle. I generally do not draw with top in response to needle coming down. The only upside is that I can get rid of it with brainstorm, but ideally I would like to be able to remove the needle, and this is better if I don't have to re-cast the top. I have two cards boarded in to get needle, which means it's reasonable enough to expect I'll be able to use it again (IMO).
Also, in reply to your "I think I vindicated a land" in g1 -- you aggressively vindicated my first and only land on turn two by exiling a fetch with DRS. Definitely set the pace for the game.
Thanks for posting the report!
Ron
Lol'd
Enjoyed reading this report a lot.
I don't agree with your build of Deadguy though, and your sideboard is all over the place even taking into account that a lot of the cards "does the same".
I have never had much problem with miracles with my Deadguy Ale, but I also board Choke which is great with the right amount of disruption added and you of course have to play the Choke right. You don't just jam it on turn 3 every time (as I'm sure you know, but others might not).
Wilkin, you are a legend.
Usually, every sideboard with Enlightend tutor may looks like "something this and something that".Lol'd
Enjoyed reading this report a lot.
I don't agree with your build of Deadguy though, and your sideboard is all over the place even taking into account that a lot of the cards "does the same".
I have never had much problem with miracles with my Deadguy Ale, but I also board Choke which is great with the right amount of disruption added and you of course have to play the Choke right. You don't just jam it on turn 3 every time (as I'm sure you know, but others might not
I hear they got twisters miles wide in the Midwest.
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